Obama Eats Gulf Seafood and You Should, Too

One question everyone asks me when the topic of the oil spill disaster comes up: Is it safe to eat Gulf seafood? Well, none other than President Obama lunched on local mini crab cakes, fried shrimp, and shrimp salad sandwiches during his two-day trip to the region this week, so I should say it is!

The President visited Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida this week to get a first-hand view of the extent of the damage from the spill before his address to the nation tonight and his meeting with BP executives tomorrow. In an effort to boost two of the region's key industries that have been pummeled by the disaster, he's encouraging Americans to visit southern tourist beaches (which are unaffected by the spill) and declared seafood from the region safe to eat and "delicious."

Still wary? Well, according to this article from Eating Well on Yahoo! Shine, the government has closed the Gulf Coast fisheries near the spill -- so you don't have to worry about eating contaminated fish simply because fish from that particularly region is unavailable. Moreover, all the seafood coming from the Gulf is being even more closely inspected than usual.

The one thing that you may notice, however? Availability. Because of the disaster, local shrimp and oysters will be harder to find, and the supply of groupers, snappers, bluefin tuna, and others may also be impacted.

If you're interested in further information on this topic, don't miss Presidents Obama's address tonight at 8 p.m. ET.

Do you trust the President? Do you think it's safe to eat Gulf seafood?